Ford: World’s Most Ethical Companies

Ford Motor Company is one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for 2017. Ford joins Volvo as the only two automakers recognized. The company has been heavily investing in green cars. But that’s only part of their success. The Ethisphere Institute awards the distinction to companies demonstrating a combination of ethical practices and corporate success. 2017 was also the eighth consecutive year in which Ford received the honour.

What Is Ethisphere?

According to Ethisphere, their “corporate ethics standards […] provide an independent, objective measurement tool critical to drive business decisions and stakeholder interaction.” In other words, clear and public ethics guidelines encourage a positive competition. To measure that competition, Ethisphere considers five categories:

Ethics and compliance

Corporate citizenship and responsibility

Culture of ethics

Governance

Leadership, innovation, and reputation

Why Ford?

Over the past few decades, Ford has undertaken a number of socially conscious initiatives of which you may not be aware. Of course, they have received plenty of recognition from the business community. For example, in 2016, Forbes named Ford America’s Best Employer. Newsweek also named them Top Green Company. In the same year, they received 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. Ford attributes its accolades to the development of “programs aimed at monitoring human rights and safe working conditions, sourcing conflict-free minerals, to programs such as the Partnership for a Cleaner Environment” (PACE).

Speaking of PACE

The Partnership for a Cleaner Environment is “aimed at encouraging sustainability through Ford’s supply chain.” Every Ford vehicle uses thousands of different materials, sourced from thousands of locations around the globe. Through PACE, Ford is taking responsibility for the environmental impact of the harvesting and distribution of each of those materials. Ford gives each supplier “a PACE toolkit, complete with more than 350 leading practices across four categories: energy, water, air emissions and waste.”

Before the materials used to build a vehicle even reach Ford’s factories, sustainable practices have made a difference. With the program’s success “PACE, which originally focused on water and energy conservation, now has grown to offer best practices for reducing waste, carbon dioxide and air emissions; carbon emissions could be reduced by nearly 500,000 metric tons globally in the next five years.”